Five stones

Several months ago, I was doodling in my journal as I spent the morning with Papa. I looked down at what I'd been drawing to see five smooth round pebbles. I was immediately reminded of the story of David and Goliath, though it had not been part of my studies recently.

Like me, you are probably very familiar with the story, but as I turned to to find it in the Bible this time, I was struck by the fact that David had chosen five stones from the stream with which to face the giant Goliath. Five stones. Not one stone, but five stones!

Did David think he might miss with his first, or even his second, third and fourth stones? He was so confident in his God, that he stepped forward when no one else would, to face the taunting Palestinians. And yet he picked five smooth stones from the brook.

I remember thinking that this story may hold some significance for us in our efforts to sell the house, though at that time we were only on sale number two. As our fourth stone fell short of the target this week, I couldn't help but be reminded of it again.

Will our house sell at the fifth attempt? I honestly can't say, but as I considered this, what I felt God say was that He could have slain our giant at the first attempt all those months ago, and had He done so, we could have been on our merry way to pastures new.

Though there's been pain in the process, I am so glad that He had other ideas. You see, as each and every sale has faltered, our trust in the love and goodness of Papa has grown. As we have endured the pain of plans frustrated, of hopes dashed, we have learned to dive deeper into Him.

I am so thankful for this opportunity - to know Him more intimately; to experience His unfailing love; to understand that I really am His beloved son; to learn to trust Him completely; to grasp the reality of His goodness; and to discover the freedom that comes with surrendering to His will.

We could have hit the target with our first stone, but if we had, we would have missed out on the priceless treasures God has revealed to us in the process. And so we thank you Papa, that you love us so well... and that we didn't hit with our first stone.

Mike x